Black Seas

This time of year, many people take a bit of a vacation. That means lots of chances to get some gaming in. Warlord Games is here to help out with some new free downloadable supplements for Blood Red S

This time of year, many people take a bit of a vacation. That means lots of chances to get some gaming in. Warlord Games is here to help out with some new free downloadable supplements for Blood Red Skies, Cruel Seas, Hail Caesar, and Black Seas. Head on over and check them out.

Sandstorm is a two-player campaign system for Blood Red Skies, pitching you headfirst into the swirling furball over the Egyptian and Libyan deserts. You’ll take the role of a British & Commonwealth wing commander, or a German Oberstleutnant, managing your squadrons of pilots as they soar across the desert sands! Pilots will grow in stature over the course of the campaign, starting out as untested rookies and hopefully ending as battle-hardened aces.

Every single engagement, however large or small will give your pilots the chance to make a name for themselves. This campaign system is designed to work alongside the brand new Air Strike! supplement, using several of the new scenarios and the rules for attacking ground targets to great effect.

Run Silent, Run Deep is an unofficial expansion to Cruel Seas that expands upon the submarine rules presented in the core book. Track the depth and position of your submarine with a series of easy to read markers. Send your opponent off on a wild goose chase, haring after shadows and transients while your submarine slips through his defensive line to attack lumbering merchantmen.

While games on the surface are a breakneck affair with chattering cannons and exploding shells, Run Silent, Run Deep is a game of stealth and patience – building to a nail-biting finale when escort and submarine clash one-on-one.

Inject some drama into your games of Hail Caesar with a brand-new minigame which allows your commanders to clash in heroic duels. Simple card-based mechanics create dynamic engagements where literally anything can happen!

Contest of Champions works equally well as a standalone minigame, or into a big game of Hail Caesar with minimal changes. We’re running this tournament as a standalone, to give you an idea of how everything works on the tabletop!

Smuggler’s Run puts two players at the heart of this black market, running contraband in and out of the British Isles. Create your own smuggling company and outwit the authorities in the name of trade and profit!

Smuggler’s Run is a two-player campaign where two rival smuggling companies compete to ferry the most contraband into the United Kingdom. Both players should have already created a smuggling company. On the (miniature) high seas, players will alternate commanding their villainous flotilla and the various customs boats patrolling the coastline.

Warlord Games is filling the ocean with ships. They've got a whole floatilla of new Black Seas kits that you can pre-order. There's the US Navy, the Spanish Navy, and several single ships and other pa

Warlord Games is filling the ocean with ships. They've got a whole floatilla of new Black Seas kits that you can pre-order. There's the US Navy, the Spanish Navy, and several single ships and other packs. Head out into the briny deep with a whole host of ships.

The Naval Act of 1794 established a permanent standing navy on 27 March 1794, in the US. Prior to this, a US Naval military presence had been left wanting for 10 years. By October 1797, the first three of six frigates launched; the USS United States, USS Constellation, and USS Constitution. Between 1798 and 99, several engagements took place between the US and France – though this was not a declared war. The First Barbary War of 1801-1805 saw actions against the Barbary pirates.

The fleet would then see substantial action in the War of 1812 – achieving victory in 11 single ship engagements against the Royal Navy. British forces were forced off Lake Eerie and Lake Champlain, effectively preventing the invasion of New Yor State. The fleet was, however, unable to prevent British blockades of US ports, the British Navy being significantly larger.

The Spanish Navy was beset by mixed fortunes in the Age of Sail, achieving great victories and major defeats in an interesting balance. Particularly during the Napoleonic era, Spanish allegiances were subject to fluctuations, oftentimes at odds with the British, yet allying with them when the situation suited (such as their rejection of Napoleon in 1808 – even in the wake of Trafalgar in which a quarter of the Spanish Navy had been lost).The Spanish Navy was the largest in the world at the outset of the 1700s, though this diminished to third-largest as the century wore on. Not only fighting close to home, the Spanish Navy fought engagements as far away as the Carribean and South America, where they achieved similarly mixed results.

A gunboat squadron is like a gnat in comparison to the larger ships-of-the-line. Nevertheless, they have a useful place in the fleet. A gunboat would typically have only a single mast with square-rigged sails, mounting between one and three fixed cannons.

Fleets of all navies kept gunboats on hand. They could be useful in shallower waters, as with only a single mounted cannon, they were able to manoeuvre relatively easily where a large ship could not. If this cannon was a 32-pounder it could still prove dangerous to larger vessels. For instance, a frigate could easily destroy a single gunboat with a single broadside hit. But if deployed in large numbers, the frigate would struggle to deal with every gunboat before sustaining heavy damage itself. The extremely cheap cost and relative time is taken to build these gunboats could prove a tremendous advantage.

Gunboats were crucial to Napoleon’s notion for the planned invasion of England in 1804, whilst the US Navy’s policy between 1803 and 1812 focussed its Navy around the concept – this was to prove ineffectual against the British Blockade in the war of 1812.

HMS Royal Sovereign was a 1st Rate Ship-of-the-Line of the Royal Navy, bearing 100 guns. She was launched from Plymouth Dockyard in 1786 and developed somewhat of a poor reputation from her crew, supposedly dubbed “West Country Wagon” owing to poor manoeuvrability and speed.

Prior to her famous role at the Battle of Trafalgar, she participated in the battles of “The Glorious First of June” as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Thomas Graves, and was Cornwallis’ flagship in his famous retreat of 16 June 1795. In the latter battle, after a day’s pursuit, a far larger French fleet came within firing range of the entire Brtish fleet. Realising the danger to his rearguard, Cornwallis brought Royal Sovereign southwards imposing his vessel between the two fleets, using the power of the 1st rate’s broadside to dissuade the pursuing French. In doing so, he managed to delay the French long enough until the appearance of an unknown fleet spooked the French into their own retreat.

The Santisima Trinidad (officially named Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad) was a Spanish first-rate ship of the line. This number of guns increased over the years. At launch in 1769, she had 112 guns, though this number gradually increased. between 1795 and 1796 she was upgraded to 130 guns, and in 1802 this number was increased to 140. Following this last rebuild, she was the heaviest armed ship in the world, bearing more guns than any other ship in the Age of Sail. Effectively, however, the fourth gundecks guns were comparatively small.

This armament was not without its problems. The weight of the additional weaponry rendered her a particularly poor at sail, leading to the ultimately rejected suggestion that she be restricted to the defence of the Bay of Cadiz. She remains notable as one of the very few 4-decked ships ever built.

The latest ships for Black Seas are all 1st Rate. Literally. These massive and impressive ships for the French and English navies can now be purchased from Warlord Games. If you're looking for a flags

The latest ships for Black Seas are all 1st Rate. Literally. These massive and impressive ships for the French and English navies can now be purchased from Warlord Games. If you're looking for a flagship and center of your armadas, look no further.

1st Rate ships of the line, as defined by the British Rating System, were ships-of-the-line mounting no less than 100 guns. They were very large and expensive to operate and were thus fairly rare. They tended to be used as Admiral’s flagships, and not used in times of peace. This was to preserve longevity of service.

A Royal Navy 1st rate is a particularly dangerous foe in Black Seas, especially true when using the National Special Rules. In the game, 1st rates have the best access to customisation and upgrade options. Combine certain upgrades (we’re fans of Master Gunner) with the British ‘Drilled’ special rule and your 1st rate will truly be an unstoppable force – but don’t go into battle unsupported!

1st Rate ships of the line were extremely large and powerful and were a true display of a Navy’s power. They were, however, expensive to operate, so their service use was limited in times of peace. In the carronade era, a 1st Rate ship-of-the-line was defined as mounting no less than 100 guns.

A French Navy 1st Rate can, when using the national special rules, be an extremely resilient foe to dislodge from battle. French ships have access to the ‘sturdy’ upgrade for a discount, and thus have a significant number of ship point to chew through. Of course, 1st rates are generally very powerful, but point for point, a French 1st rate should be sticking around longer to wreak havoc among your enemy’s formations.

Bit of a shotgun set of releases for you from Warlord Games this time around. Starting off, for those of you that like to take all your rulebooks with you in your pocket, there's the digital version o

Bit of a shotgun set of releases for you from Warlord Games this time around. Starting off, for those of you that like to take all your rulebooks with you in your pocket, there's the digital version of the Black Seas rulebook. For those that are Pike & Shotte players (been a while since I'd seen anything for them), you can get your new Scots Covenanter General and Army Standard Bearer. Last, but not least, there's the North Korean KPA ZIS-3 Divisional Gun for Bolt Action: Korea.